New Franklin County COVID cases outnumbering much larger Benton County

The 114th death from complications of COVID-19 was reported in the Tri-Cities area on Friday.

It was the 12th death from the disease reported this month by the Benton Franklin Health District.

The number of new confirmed cases reported, 119, was close to the 127 cases reported the day before.

New cases in Franklin County exceeded those in Benton County as it has eight of the past 10 days, even though Benton County has just over twice as many people as Franklin.

Franklin County had 65 new COVID-19 cases reported on Friday and Benton County had 54.

They bring the total confirmed cases in Franklin County since the start of the pandemic to 2,272. Benton County has had 2,237.

Benton County has had more people tested — 13,614, with 378 tests reported on Friday. Franklin County has had 8,077 people tested, with 290 tests reported on Friday.

Testing increase

Testing has increased in recent weeks in the Tri-Cities area with free drive-thru testing available since mid-June.

About 400 people a day are being tested at the Toyota Center in Kennewick and the HAPO Center, formerly TRAC, in Pasco.

No appointment is needed and testing is available at either site 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays.

But Dr. Amy Person, the health officer for Benton and Franklin counties, says she hears people say that more testing is driving up the number of confirmed cases reported in the area.

“Testing lots of people only means that our positive rate goes up if we have a lot of disease in our community,” she said. “There are many counties across the state of Washington that test far more per capita or run far more tests per day than we do in either Benton or Franklin county and they have fewer cases.”

Testing identifies those who are infected, allowing them to self isolate to prevent spreading the coronavirus, and identifies those who they were in close contact with and may have been infected.

The number of new cases is one of the targets the state Department of Health will consider before it allows the Tri-Cities area to reopen more businesses or allow small gatherings.

The two counties have been in a modified Phase 1 since late last week, which allows a very limited reopening of some businesses.

Benton County has a target of no more than 50 new cases total in two weeks, which it exceeded just on Friday.

Franklin County has a target of no more than 24 new cases total in two weeks, which it more than doubled just on Friday.

They are not the only counties having trouble meeting that rate. Just 16 of the 39 counties meet the state target, which is no more than 25 cases per 100,000 people over two weeks, said Dr. John Wiesman, state secretary of health.

COVID deaths

The most recent death was a Benton County man in his 80s. He was at risk of a severe case of COVID-19 both because of his age and having underlying health conditions, according to the local health district.

There have been 85 deaths of Benton County residents and 29 deaths of Franklin County residents.

The number of patients being treated for COVID-19 in the two-county area dropped from 71 to 68, as reported on Friday.

The number still is much higher than patient totals that were in the 30s for much of May, but below the peak of 89 hospitalized patients reported in late June.

The patients being treated for COVID-19 — either with positive test results or awaiting test results — accounted for 19% of hospitalized patients in hospitals in Richland, Kennewick, Pasco and Prosser. It was the lowest percentage reported this month.

Statewide there have been 1,409 deaths and 38,581 cases reported since the start of the pandemic.

This story was originally published July 10, 2020 at 1:50 PM.